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Did you know?

The Handbook on Climate-Related Investing across Asset Classes, was recently published by The Institute for Responsible Investing (IRI), a project of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenbship.  The 60 page handbook was designed to "facilitate efforts by investors, fund managers, and consultants to assess the impacts of climate change on portfolios . . . ."

As the SRI in the Rockies Conference organizers, we have been strongly motivated to reduce the overall footprint of the conference and increase its sustainability for many years. And, each year, we take another step in the right direction.

Venue Selection

“When it comes to green meetings, George Gay wrote the book”, so said Alison Hall in Financial & Insurance Meetings magazine. The SRI in the Rockies venue proposal guidelines include an extensive set of questions used to evaluate the venue’s commitment and actions in the area of Green Building and Sustainable Operations. Some of the questions on which properties are evaluated include:

• Green Hotel Initiative: Is the facility compliant with the Green Hotel Initiative?
• Carbon Footprint: Has the property evaluated its carbon footprint, and, if so, what are the results?
• LEED certified: Is the property LEED certified and/or have any other Green Building standards been implemented?
• Local, Organic Food: Does the venue use locally grown and/or organic food products? If so, what is the approximate ratio of such food to the total amount of food served?
• Food Donation: Consistent with local health regulations, is the facility willing to donate all unused, but paid for, food to a local homeless shelter or other such facility?
• Public Transportation: Is there access to public transportation from the hotel?

Carbon Offsets

SRI in the Rockies began purchasing carbon offsets in 2003. In 2005, we began our relationship with NativeEnergy. NativeEnergy is partly owned by the non-profit Intertribal Council on Utility Policy (COUP), an organization of Native American tribes. It is one of three U.S. companies to be rated as “top performing” in the first independent review of retail carbon offset providers out of a sample of 30 companies worldwide.

• Our 2009 Project This year’s carbon offsets, purchased through NativeEnergy, are supporting the Greensburg, KS Wind Energy Farm. The farm is part of an effort to rebuild the town of Greensburg after a massive tornado leveled it in 2007, destroying 95% of the town and leaving a path of devastation two miles wide. Eleven of the town’s 1,400 residents died in the disaster. After the catastrophe, the town committed itself to rebuilding Greensburg to be the greenest town in America. The SRI in the Rockies Conference is proud to join the town of Greensburg in this mission. Electricity generated by the wind farm will displace fossil-based energy and reduce CO2 pollution by hundreds of thousands of tons that otherwise would enter our atmosphere.


• In the past, we have supported projects on Native lands, including Phase 2 of the St. Francis Wind Farm on the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Reservation in South Dakota, and wind farms that support Native Alaskan villages significantly affected by global warming.

Sponsorships

Three of our sponsorships are specifically related to our commitment to building a sustainable conference: Carbon Offset, Recycling, and Appreciation Gifts.

• Carbon Offset. Our Carbon Offset Sponsor assists us in offsetting the carbon impact of the meeting and lodging rooms during the conference, as well as staff travel to and from the conference site.
• Recycling. Our Recycling sponsor assists us in bringing awareness to conference participants and hotel staff regarding the importance and value in recycling as many items as possible.
• Appreciation Gifts. Appreciation Gifts are given to all speakers, the Agenda Committee, board members of the Social Investment Forum, and staff members of First Affirmative Financial Network. Some of the criteria we consider during the selection process include whether the product is fair trade, organic, recycled, and locally produced.